Amid the Shadows

My humble apologises for the extreme delay in getting this chapter out there, life got in the way a little bit.

I'd appreciated any comments or notes on how you think its all going.

There is a plot in mind, my idea surrounding this piece is really a story in length, each character building and developing with the notion of sequels.

Many thanks for taking the time to read.

Anna Dreamer

**

Karl cursed for the hundredth time.

'Jesus George, could you be any louder?' He shifted the weight he was carrying and turned back to look at his friend as they hesitantly made their way through woodland.

'Not all of us have the hunting skills you do wolf.' George stood on a branch, its breaking seemed to echo for miles and miles.

Karl scoffed and shifted his load, 'flattery will get you nowhere old man.'

They had been walking for ten minutes making their way back to the portal. Karl had been using his sense of smell to guide them back, his senses were filled with the smell of the night and a wildness that his wolf begged to explore. He looked to the sky, the pale glow of a winter moon and the grey blue haze surrounding it ignited his purpose. His load let out a groan.

He dropped it unceremoniously to the floor and scented the air, he could sense the wolf guards who patrolled with them, a trio to the left and right, both keeping watch.

'Karl, don't damage the merchandise.'

Karl snorted and viewed the tied woman with some disgust. 24 hours ago his guards had notified him of the strange scents on the Martinez estate. Karl had investigated and played a pretty game of cat and mouse with the lady, or would wolf and vampire be more adapt? He pondered.

He'd ambushed her easily, her mind seemingly distracted as he'd found her riffling through Alexis' things in her room, how she'd breeched security was another matter.

'Who the hell are you?' Karl had asked furiously, seeing red at this thing touching Alex's stuff.

'I'm nothing that concerns you wolf' her smile was a forced smirk as she continued her quest like a burglar, complete with black tight jeans and t-shirt.

Karl grabbed her quickly and spun her to the door, forcing her back up against it with a thud.

'I won't ask again vampire.' Karl growled, feeling his wolf stir.

The vampire looked at him wide eyed, something close to fear fluttered across her face.

'My name is Claudia.' She answered.

'Do you work for Alistair?'

She looked around the room averting his eyes. Her hand lifted, her eyes glazing as if she was going to cast magic, Karl tensed.

He shook her roughly, a gasp of breathe left her body and Karl knew that this vampire was new, the instinct to breathe was often lost with the older ones, she was young, not a fledgling perhaps but he'd find it had to believe that she had been turned any longer than 15-20 years, maybe less depending on her master, her attempt to cast had, however, been a surprise. That thought sobered him and the cogs in his head began to turn.

'Answer the question.' he repeated.

'Yes' she answered with some anger.

'Do you know where Alex is?'

The vampire before him frowned like a pro 'Who is Alex?'

Karl sniggered, 'You're in her room leach.'

His voice had deepened, its tone was deadly.

'I followed his scent. I..' Claudia stopped, knowing she'd said too much.

'It is no surprise little vampire about Paul.' Karl watched the surprise and shock display on her face, another sign she was young, emotions and expressions still seemed human to her.

Karl leaned in closer and whispered into her face, 'You little vampire are going to be very useful.'

Karl stuck swiftly, his hand landing on her head in a managed hit, she slumped forward heavily.

He pushed her against the door with one powerfully placed hand as he pulled the silver chain from his pocket.

As Karl's mind returned to the present, he cast his glare down, the vampire before him met his stare, her eyes spitting venom in his direction, she cursed something into the gag in her mouth, wincing as her struggles rubbed the sliver binding her further.

'I'm sorry sweetheart, I don't speak gag.' Karl eyed her. She screamed something else then sagged into the floor in small defeat.

'She ok?' George asked quietly.

'She'll live, she's just passed out from the sliver.'

'I hope this plan works Karl.' George scanned the woods.

'It will, she also bears the brand.' Karl lifted her arm exposing the tattoo inside Claudia inner wrist.

Karl looked up at George and grinned, 'Just another mile or so to go.'

'It didn't seem that long to get to last time did it?' George was watching Claudia intently. 'I think that its moved, it would be an excellent strategy to keep it hidden. A blood link would be the easiest way to detect it.'

'You sound in awe my friend.' Karl hefted Claudia onto his shoulder easily and started to walk.

'Alistair was always inventive, creative, but there was always an edge to his dealings I disagreed with.'

'Well this time he's going to get his arse handed to him, It's a strong possibility that Paul used the portal so that's a blood link to you. Plus, if the leach keeps rubbing that sliver around, exposing her own blood we'll find it in no time.'

'I hope so, because I have an uneasy feeling that time is not on our side. I've already had the council breathing down my neck, asking question about the twins absence from meetings and duties. What am I suppose to say to them? My son is a selfish jealous arse who betrayed his own father and sister?'

'I will bring Alex home George.' Karl said with determination.

'I don't doubt it, its the state she returns to us that worries me.'

A light glittered before them, it simmered and warped, a humming sound growing as they stepped closer.

'Well the little bastard did move.' Karl watched the door open before them, like a slice through the film of life as the scene before them held a rectangle shape of light and through it, the vision of a place that looked a miles away. The portal was open.

Karl gripped the load on his shoulder and turned to George letting his wolf rise to surface without the physical change. His smile was pure wolf as he stepped through.

'Show time.' he rasped.

**

Diana found Paul slumped at the table in the apartment where they had met often and had their trysts. She viewed the upturned whiskey bottle and the brimming tumbler he still grasped.

'Paul?' she called him, surprising herself with a note of concern.

He met her stare with bleary eyes and a deflated expression, he gulped the liquid, grimacing as it went down his throat.

Diana waited as he composed himself, he sat back in his chair and stroked his tie. His confusion and hint of fear filled the air around them.

'My father dismissed me today.'

Diana removed her jacket in a flourish and huffed, 'My father has been dismisssing me for years.'

Paul stood suddenly, the chair underneath him falling back. 'You don't understand' he grumbled.

Diana viewed her nails and then her shoes, 'Ssso tell me.'

'I've been his right hand for years, listening to his bullshit and so called wisdom but today...' He let the sentence trail off as he moved to the window.

He held the tumbler close taking another drink. 'I know he knows Diana, the look in his eyes today, the betrayal, it affected me.'

'If he knowsss anything Paul, why hassn't he acted upon it?' Diana moved to the window and watched the traffic moving by through the blinds.

'Because he's confiding in the fucking wolf, thats why and we both know he fucking knows!' Paul shouted

'Ssso we take out the wolf' Diana stated simply.

'It's not that easy demon' Paul muttered, 'Its like he's god damn charmed or some shit and his pack is...savage. In the southern wars they were mercenaries and their methods are well documented. I personally like my organs in my body and my head attached.'

'Ssso what do you think we should do?' Diana moved to the sofa, sitting smooth, crossing on legs smoothly over the other. 'are you regretting your bargain with Alissstair?'

'Are you?' Paul countered, their eyes met and it was Diana who looked away, suddenly very interested in her hands.

Paul moved around the furniture quickly and sat beside her. He turned and spoke, 'You are aren't you?'

'The massster has changed.' She said quietly.

'What the hell is that suppose to mean?'

'What doesss it matter to you wizard?' Diana stood and strode to the kitchenette area, she pulled open the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water, opening it easily and gulping half of it down.

Paul lent over the back of the sofa and eyed the situation carefully.

'It matters to me Diana, talk to me. Alistair has let us both down here. I'm plagued by snippets of visions from Alex, she dreams of dark things, I dream of dark things and this shit didn't start happening till after I made a blood deal with Alistair.

My dealings with him have shattered my family, through my own actions. What I wanted and desired hasn't transpired here. I don't feel more powerful, my father and the wolf still hold all the fucking cards and the one person I thought I truly hated the most, my own sister....well I don't think she'll come back alive Diana. We are all just puppets to him, dancing to his tune, his promises are unfulfilled and shallow. From the look in your eyes, you know I'm right and you feel the same way.'

'Alissstair cared for me when my own family disssowned me for only being half demon Paul, my human mother couldn't cope. After Alistair's fassscination in her ran dry he looked to me and offered me a way out of the sssituation. I took it, sssick to death with a life hiding in the dark and being ssscared of the powers I had. Alistair told me to embrace my gift, I did, but now...What I have never been able to comprehend isss why...why you felt drawn to him, he hates your father that much isss truth.'

'I hated the restriction, the rules of community magic. My father with his self righteous attitude, but he too rebelled once. You know the stories Alistair tells, a time when they revealed in control over others.'

'Isss that what you want Paul?'

Paul looked around the room thoughtful, 'I thought it was, get my golden child sister out of the way, disgrace my father, set up the wolf. It seemed so simple to take the power and become something more than what I am. But now...' He stopped and gulped the last of his whiskey.

'Now what?' Diana questioned.

'I realised its Alistair who is pulling the stings, we are dancing to his tune, I don't want to trade one set of rules for another. Passed over again for my sister and her gift.'

'I hate him.' Diana answered quietly, 'I thought for a long time he loved me. I wasss wrong.'

'So its simply then.' Paul stood and smoothed his tie. 'We stop him getting that fucking stone and we shove a stake the size of a car through his black fucking heart.'

Diana smiled, her teeth gleaming, her eyes sparking at the possibility. 'We kill him.' She said determined.

Paul moved towards her, tossing the glass to the floor, he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her against him. He moved his mouth over hers with a urgent, violent need. Her hands moved to his tie and pulled at it frantically. He picked her up easily as the strip of silk fell to the floor. They stopped suddenly and looked at each other with understanding.

'Alistair has to die.' Paul's voice was steady, his eyes flickered with power and Diana shivered, her and the wizard where definitely on the same page.

**

Alex felt sick, she pushed the soup around the bowl with a sad determination that she should really eat it. She felt him, Alistair. She could feel something. She hated it. The more she thought about it, the more the taste of his blood forced into her mouth made her stomach churn.

She heard the water shut off in the bathroom. Jensen. The things she'd seen him do. The vision she'd seen while speaking to Isabella was still crystal clear in her mind and so was the woman she suspected was his dead wife.

Was that Alistair's doing too? She wondered. Had he sent those images to her in order to fracture the relationship she was building with his brother? Was it even a relationship? Or just convenient sex based on the force confines and situation they found themselves in? Alex was unsure. She pinched her nose. Her mind swimming with the possibilities.

Alex pushed the food away, and climbed slowly off the bed, her head was spinning. This place made her itch. The spirits of a man and a woman sat in the corner chatting away like fishwives had been a distraction, when she realised they were no threat she turned them out like a radio station.

Seeing spirits was nothing new, she'd been doing that since she was a child. Being able to communicate with them, that was new. She knew where they needed to go next. The key hummed on the drawers by the bathroom door like a beacon. 'Take me, use me' it whispered persuasively.

The door to the bathroom opened and Jensen appeared wearing a crisp white towel. He watched Alex by the window, the slight breeze blew on her face and flushed cheeks. She was beautiful. She'd been quiet since the Incident earlier. He'd spoken to her in a soothing tone as he'd washed her body and all the while a far away look seemed to haunt her eyes.

Jensen viewed the tray on the bed, she'd barely touched the food Adam had bought. He sighed and closed the bathroom door quietly.

Alex turned viewing Jensen's back as he pulled on a pair of jeans. She looked to the spirits in the corner and wasn't surprise to see a look of fear on their faces, she'd heard them discussing him. 'a bad 'un' the lady had called him. 'His soul is as dark as the night,' the ghost of the young man had uttered. When the caught her looking, they both smiled sad smiles and poof, they where gone.

'You haven't eaten much.' Jensen said softly, smoothing his hair from his face.

'I wasn't very hungry.' She wrapped her arms around her middle, the room so cold all of a sudden.

'You said earlier...' Jensen started.

'Yes, I think we need to talk.' Alex didn't meet his stare, She pulled a blanket from the end of the bed and wrapped it around herself. 'thank you, for healing me.'

'I do it again, in a heartbeat for you.' Jensen felt uneasy, a sudden heavy weight pressing down on him, a sense of dread. Something he was all too familiar with, he'd felt it many times before. Never knowing what state he'd find Claudia in after her magic binges.

In those first few months he'd been chained by Alistair, the uncertainty of not knowing when he'd come, what punishment he'd receive. Now that weight made his heart ache, as if something was changing never to be the same again.

'Alex...' Jensen's voice was quiet.

Alex took a long shaky breath and spoke as quietly. 'When I was with Isabella, I could feel a vision coming, I saw some things I'd like to discuss with you.'

He watched her reach for a glass of water, her hand shaking slightly. 'What did you see?'

'You and a woman. Magic, death, fear.' She stood straighter and looked at him directly.

'I saw you slit a man's throat and drink from him, Then you're witch of a wife keep him alive as the blood drained from him, prolonging his suffering until you'd taken your fill'

Jensen swallowed hard. He remembered the night well, he'd been full of excess power after dabbling in draining people of their gifts, He felt the guilt anew.

'I saw you laughing with your wife as she pinched and prodded a girl and then drained her of her gifts until a withered thing sat in that girl's place.'

Jensen looked away and closed his eyes tight. 'Make it stop. Make it stop' he could still hear her cries.

'I saw Alistair turn your wife, I saw what it did to her, the madness, and I saw you cleaning up her messes and making excuses. Then I saw some little snippets of your craziness as well.'

'STOP!' Jensen turned suddenly, stalking her like prey. He grabbed her by the upper arms and shook her violently. 'What the hell do you know of my life? You see a few glances of what I was and all of a sudden you are jury, judge and executioner. Who gave you the right? A pretty little girl, whose been sheltered all her life by her daddy. I won't apologise for my past and neither will I be judged, especially not by you.'

He stared at her in silence after his venomous rant. 'You're hurting me' she whispered.

He caught the sent of burning and peeled his hands away from her. Her upper arms where burned with the indentations of his fingers. He looked down at his hands in shock. A flash of magic and he was flung again the cold unforgiving stone wall. He stood in shock as Alex's eyes flashed a shade of teal, holding him in place as she lowered her hands.

'You shouldn't apologise to me.' Alex said slowly, cautiously. 'You're right, I don't think I know you very well, certainly not well enough to judge, but in the same respect you shouldn't judge me.'

She released him slowly, she moved to the door and pulled it open with some difficultly, when Jensen stepped forward to offer assistance, she flinched back. Claude was suddenly at the door and stepped in slowly, scared to anger the rattlesnake.

'I think you should leave.' Alexis said in a shaky voice.

'Alex...' Jensen pleaded.

'Please.' Alex closed her eyes, a tear running down each cheek.

'Lewis, perhaps we stood take a walk.' Claude implored from the passageway.

'Claude, could you leave us please?' Jensen asked tightly his eyes never leaving Alex.

Claude looked to Alex who was staring intently at the wood grain on the door. He stepped forward and touched her shoulder lightly. She looked at him and gave a weak smile. He nodded and stepped back as Alex slowly closed the door.

In the passageway, Adam moved from the opposite wall and stood by Claude.

'Is it right to leave them?' the scared warrior asked.

'Their journey together is just beginning, they just have to iron out the creases.'

Adam searched his face for a moment. Happy with what he saw, he turned and walked away.

*

Alex stood at the window, trying to block out the stinging pain in her arms, the cool breeze seemed to aggravate it more.

'Alex?'

Alex turned to the Mage, in one hand he held a cloth, the other a small bowl containing a green cream substance. He pointed to the bed and Alex moved towards it. As she sat, Jensen turned to close the window and Alex caught a glimpse of the damage she had inflicted. His back was scratched and there where several blobs of dry blood. The wall itself wasn't without its own damage. Several places were marred with streaks of blood and below on the floor a scattering of plaster.

They sat in silence for a moment as Jensen continued to mix the substance. As he applied it gently to the burns, Alex flinched. Jensen set the dish on the bed and gently cupped her face in his hands.

'I am so sorry, so sorry. You are the last person I would EVER harm and yet I don't think I can guarantee that it won't happen again. My powers are still coming back to me, its no excuse I know, but having them again makes me unstable.'

'I shouldn't have mentioned you're wife, I-'

'No' Jensen interrupted, 'You were honest with me and I reacted badly, violently. You were right to throw me against that wall' He laughed nervously. 'I'm not proud of my past Alexis, to hear you speaking about it made me feel dirty, unclean and I'm not worthy of you.'

Alex snorted, 'You where right about me, I have had a sheltered life.'

'No, No' Jensen showered kisses on the exposed skin on her face, 'You are the light to my darkness, don't ever feel that that in itself is not a gift, to see the right when others would be clouded in judgement.'

Alex gently touched his forehead and cheek, 'I know little about your past, and I know this situation is not ideal for building any kind of relationship, but I want to know you. I care for you, so much in such a short time its a little scary'